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Sabine
Sabine is the succubus consort of Nale and a main member of the Linear Guild, initially introduced as Haley Starshine's evil opposite. She ultimately answers to the Inter-Fiend Cooperation Commission, though she appeared to place her love of Nale above this obligation. A fiendish denizen of the Outer Planes, she is older than the current calendar in use in the Order of the Stick world, which began with the founding of That Kingdom some 1184 years before present time in the world. Biography Early Life Sabine's origin and antecedents are unknown, but she must have existed long before becoming part of the Linear Guild. She worked for Lee of the IFCC before being involved with Nale.Comic #804, "Where Her Loyalties Lie." An off-hand remark Sabine made to Vaarsuvius suggests that she was actually sent by the IFCC to Tarquin, presumably meeting and joining Nale there.Comic #903, "Carefully Couched." Dungeon Crawlin' Fools When the Linear Guild betrayed the Order of the Stick in order to claim the Talisman of Dorukan, Sabine flew Nale to safety. However, Haley Starshine shattered the Talisman, making their escape impossible. Sabine attacked Haley, confident that her Damage Reduction would prevent combat damage, but Haley's use of Manyshot combined with an arrow of Cold Iron and an arrow of Silver did inflict damage to Sabine, causing her to flee. No Cure for the Paladin Blues She next appeared to break Nale and Thog out of jail, just as the Order were celebrating their victory and "no loose ends." Much later, Sabine turned out to have been disguised as the Dwarf Blacksmith that sent Roy Greenhilt and the rest of The Order on a quest to retrieve Starmetal from Wooden Forest (at that point she and Nale didn't believe the Starmetal was real, or that the Order would survive). The three surviving members of the Guild travelled to Cliffport to hire new members (Pompey, Yokyok and Leeky Windstaff) and stage an ambush for the Order by kidnapping Julia Greenhilt. Sabine fought Roy, in a combat that featured the first use of the Greenhilt Sword's new powers. War and XPs Sabine flew from Cliffport to Azure City, to meet Nale who had infiltrated the Order of the Stick disguised as Elan. Sabine discovered Haley's affection for Elan, a fact that Nale took full advantage of. Sabine burst in angrily on Nale and Haley, seemingly jealous, but it turned out she was angry at Nale planning to kill Haley without Sabine's participation. While Sabine was loyal to Nale, she also worked Director Lee of the Inter-Fiend Cooperation Commission behind Nale's back. She had been acting as his agent on the Mortal Plane, keeping him informed of any events or details which may tip the cosmic balance between Good and Evil in Evil's favour. It was Sabine who informed the IFCC of the existence of the Gates, and it was because of this that the IFCC paid attention to Vaarsuvius. After Nale's infiltration was revealed, Sabine ended up in the Azure City prison along with the rest of the Linear Guild, Belkar, and the fallen Miko Miyazaki. Sabine's offer to turn Miko into a Blackguard was rebuffed with a broken neck, which the demon recovered from quickly. During the Battle of Azure City, the prison was destroyed and Sabine escaped, flying away carrying Nale and Thog. Don't Split the Party Sabine's only appearance in the fourth book is in a portrait of the Linear Guild (from Dungeon Crawin' Fools) that the IFCC have on their wall, as they note that the Guild have been their pawns. Blood Runs in the Family Sabine and the Guild re-emerged on the scene when the Order were guests of General Tarquin at the Palace of Blood in Bleedingham. Tarquin put on elaborate games in honor of the return of his son Elan. At the arena, the Linear Guild staged an ambush of the Order. Roy, enslaved as a gladiator, found himself fighting the gladiator champion: Thog. Elan, Haley, and Vaarsuvius were ambushed by Zz'dtri and Yukyuk, leaving Haley turned to stone. While V fought Zz'dtri, Elan fled with the miniaturized, petrified Haley. It was then that Sabine and Nale ambushed Elan. Qarr arrived to express the wishes of the IFCC, but Sabine's actions suggested that her loyalty to Nale was in fact more important to her than her obligation to her fiendish superiors. Sabine grew frustrated with Nale's desire to prove his superiority to Elan prior to killing him, and flew Elan up in the air, hoping to kill him through level drain. However, Elan fell on the balcony where Durkon and Malack were having tea. Sabine and Nale found themselves confronted with the wrathful Malack, who harbored a personal grudge against Nale. Sabine teleported to safety, but Nale was ultimately cornered by Tarquin and Malack. The Linear Guild was reconstituted with Tarquin, Malack, and Kilkil joining the team along with original members Nale, Sabine, and Zz'dtri. Sabine used her (mediocre) skills in trap-finding to help the Guild make their way though the pyramid, but did not participate in actual combat: as an Evil Outsider, she was banished for 24 hours to her home plane (the Abyss). This time proved critical, as it was during her banishment that Nale was killed. When the IFCC held Vaarsuvius' soul in the Abyss, Sabine, enraged by Nale's death (his resurrection is practically impossible), revealed to V all that she knew about the psion and other Tarquin's allies, something that proved very helpful. Current Activities The term of Sabine's banishment was 24 hours, so she is currently free to return to the Prime Material Plane. Her last known activity was being sent to recover an "appropriate vessel" for some kind of artifact that the IFCC plan on using. Personality and Traits Sabine is bloodthirsty and promiscuous; when she left Nale for three hours to check in at the Lower Planes, she had sex four times, noting that she would have had more, but she had errands to run, too. Although seemingly jealous when she caught Nale with Haley, Sabine was in fact angry that he was going to kill Haley on his own, while Sabine wanted to kill her herself. She also admitted that she wouldn't have cared if he had ''been trying to seduce Haley: being an evil embodiment of illicit sex, Sabine does not care who Nale sleeps with, and she herself sleeps around. She enjoys killing and talks cheerfully about such acts as having sex with Nale on top of Elan's corpse or eating Roy's heart. She also enjoys using her shapeshifting powers to deceive others and lead them into traps, as she has done numerous times. Despite the lack of sexual fidelity, her love of Nale appears to be genuine, and to supercede her duty to the IFCC, even though it was they who put her in with the Linear Guild in order to use them as their pawns. After Nale's death, she was besides herself with fury and gave Vaarsuvius all the information she could regarding Tarquin and his squad in order to exact her vengeance through the actions of the Order. An off-hand remark made by Tarquin suggests that he had slept with Sabine at some point.Comic #858, "Actually, She Did." Powers and Abilities As a succubus, Sabine has various dark abilities. She can shapeshift (though she seems to always retain her skin and hair colour), drain levels by kissing, and fly. She also has super strength, as she is capable of impaling a guard with her bare hands, and lifting both Elan and Nale effortlessly. She also has Damage Reduction, making her impervious to attacks with most weapons. She is, however, vulnerable to cold iron, as all demons are. Early in the comic, Haley couldn't tell whether Sabine was a demon or a devil, so she used silver and cold iron against her simultaneously. It is unclear if a Succubus in the Order of the Stick universe has all the powers a D&D succubus would have; in particular, Sabine has never exhibited most of the usual at-will succubus spell-like abilities (particularly not ''detect thoughts, ethereal jaunt, ''or suggestion''), and appears to have a once-per-day Plane Shift instead. Equipment Sabine is known to possess a cellphone capable of communicating across planes of existence. Trivia * There was confusion regarding whether Sabine is a demon (succubus), or devil (erinyes). Most suspected that she is a succubus, for the following reasons; ** She energy-drains Durkon Thundershield in Inevitable Betrayal? Check; a Erinyes would charm their foes instead. **She fights with her claws; an Erinyes would fight with a flaming sword. **Her wings are bat-like, rather than bird-like. **She isn't fanatically loyal to Nale as a love interest (she doesn't get hung up on who either of them sleeps with). **Her bosses identify her as a succubus in Comic #637, "It Only Shows Reality Programming". **The matter is settled, as Rich Burlew stated in 'War and XPs' that she is a Succubus, which makes her a demon (according to 3rd edition D&D rules), and she was also stated to be a demon on Nale's wanted poster. She also takes offense when Malack refers to her as a devil. Gallery Sabine.png|Human Form Sabine. Cliffport Sabine.PNG|Sabine's outfit in Cliffport. Human Cliffport Sabine.PNG|Human Form Sabine in Cliffport. References Category:Characters Category:Demons Category:Living Characters Category:Chaotic Evil Characters Category:Chaotic Characters Category:Evil Characters Category:Females Category:Linear Guild Category:Rogues Category:Outsiders Category:Fiends